A communications module for a gas or water meter (or any other battery-powered utility device) must be able to support a battery life of 15-20 years. This is primarily achieved through the use of efficient energy-storage batteries as well as by minimizing the power consumption of the communications module (radio). In order to minimize power consumption, the radio may spend most of its time in a low-power “sleep” mode, waking up on some periodic basis to communicate any data with its network and then returning to sleep.
Replacing exhausted batteries in numerous such devices deployed in operation is a time-consuming and difficult task. Increasing the usable life-span of the batteries in these metering devices can produce significant savings in time and money for utility operators.